I loved this book. It has everything: beauty, unrequited love, betrayal, mystery and murder. This book reads like a classic. I kept flipping to the copyright page to make sure it was written in 1992. I thought the story was much older. The characters were believable, if you have ever been in a dormitory type setting you will see what I mean. Every time I thought that the author could not put another twist, I was wrong. As you get to the end you read faster and faster to find out what happens, I could not put it down. I ride the bus to work, while reading this the ride went by so fast. Usually I kind of know where I am but this book took me straight to Vermont. Time would pass and I would not know where I was. I highly recommend this book.

From the beginning, you know who dies. The rest of the book is a gentle unfolding of why and how and the entire who. I thought this would be a terrible mystery, but was really surprised at how much I cared about the various characters and their activities. No one was what he/she appeared at different times, and all, including the victim, were greatly flawed. That did not make the story less charming or intriguing, and Tartt did an admirable job of portraying a group of folks who didn't quite fit in with the average campus, but who made their own mini-society and lived and died by it.

Was not expecting this book to be what it became...it is one of my favorites so far. As others have said, it is a little slow in the beginning, and a few of the characters you wanted to just roll your eyes at. But a very good suspensful book.

I have never enjoyed a book so much and yet disliked the characters so thoroughly. I found myself staying up much too late to read "just one more chapter."

One of my all time favorite books. Slow in the beginning, but so rewarding if you stick with it. A very unusual story, interesting, and a one of a kind book.

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A haunting book, very good read--possibly one of the top 10 books I've read this year.

I absolutely adored Tartt's other novel, The Little Friend, and I had high hopes for this one too. I was not disappointed. The novel tells the story of five students at an elite New England liberal arts college. All of the students are tremendously, unusually devoted to their studies, and this devotion leads them to tragedy as they murder first, an outsider, and then one of their own. The fact of the murders is not the suspenseful part of the plot. Indeed, the murder of one of the group's own is revealed on the first page. Rather, the interest, intruige, and suspense comes in how the students cope with the knowledge of what they've done. Their suspicion, fear, and even some remorse wreak havoc and lead the group to an even more tragic climax. The main characters in this book are Classics students, and indeed, the book itself reads much like a Greek tragedy, with precipitous decline, and knowledge thereof.

Donna Tartt is a phenomenal storyteller. She creates plots that are deep, rich, and complex. Much like The Little Friend, The Secret History is a highly psychological book. I was absolutely gripped by this book from beginning to end.

A very good thriller, well-written, detailed, with characterization. A rich novel.

Very fascinating characters and plot. A definite read.

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